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CrimethInc. Ex-Workers Collective
Typedecentralized collective
Membership
voluntary association
Websitewww.crimethinc.com

CrimethInc., also known as CWC ("CrimethInc. Ex-Workers Collective" or "CrimethInc Ex-Workers Ex-Collective"[1]), is a decentralized anarchist collective[2][3][4] composed of multiple cells which act independently of one another. The collective emerged in the mid-1990's[5] from its beginnings as Inside Front, and began operating as a collective only in 1996.[6] It has since published widely-read propaganda for the anarchist movement.[7]

Several divisions of the group have published books, while others have acted as record labels; less public splinter-groups have carried out direct action, hosted international conventions and other events, maintained local chapters, sparked riots, toured with multimedia performance art and/or hardcore anarcho-punk musical ensembles, and supported various large-scale campaigns with publicity work (including the Unabomber for President and the "Don't Just (Not) Vote" campaigns as well as the anti-FTAA protests of 2003 in Miami, Florida). The collective has received sporadic media attention for its activity,[8][9] and its texts have been cited in academic publications.[10]

CrimethInc. is associated with the North American anarcho-punk scene because of its long relationship with notable musicians in the genre and its publishing of Inside Front, a "journal of hardcore punk and anarchist action".[6] It has since expanded into nearly all areas of the current anti-capitalist movement. The name "CrimethInc." is a satirical self-criticism about hypocrisy of revolutionary propaganda (and other "margin-walking between contradictions"[5]) and a direct reference to the concept of "Thoughtcrime" developed in George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.[5]

Philosophy

File:Crimethinc logo Jan2008.png

Crimethought is not any ideology or value system or lifestyle, but rather a way of challenging all ideologies and value systems and lifestyles—and, for the advanced agent, a way of making all ideologies, value systems, and lifestyles challenging.

— CrimethInc.com[11]

CrimethInc. promotes itself as a mindset and a way of life first and foremost, rather than as an organization per se, by its active participants.[5] Its main goal is to inspire people to take more active control of their own lives, becoming producers of culture and history instead of passive consumers.[12][13] Those who ascribe to the CrimethInc. philosophy, advocate radical ways of living one's life to the end of eliminating the inequities and tyrannies it perceives within society. CrimethInc. draws from situationist thought,[14] dadaism,[14] primitivism,[15] as well as post-left anarchy.[15] Its perceived focus on the "terminal boredom of consumer culture" at the expense of the state of the working class has been criticized by others in the anarchist movement as lifestyle anarchism, fetishizing "the narcissistic side of the 1960s" (Clamor).[7]

CrimethInc as a loose organization represents a variety of political views. The CrimthInc. FAQ asserts that it has "no platform or ideology except that which could be generalized from the similarities between the beliefs and goals of the individuals who choose to be involved—and that is constantly in flux."[5] Anyone can publish under the name or create a poster using the logo; each agent or group of agents operate autonomously. As well as the traditional anarchist opposition to the state and capitalism, agents have, at times, advocated a straight edge lifestyle, the total supersession of gender roles, violent insurrection against the state,[16] and the refusal of work.[17] Contributors to publications are generally not credited in respect of an anonymity asserted by participants to be one of the organizations primary values.[5]

Activities

Among their best-known publications are the books Days of War, Nights of Love, Evasion, Recipes for Disaster: An Anarchist Cookbook and the pamphlet Fighting For Our Lives (of which, to date, they have printed 500,000 copies),[18] the hardcore punk/political zine Inside Front, and the music of several hardcore punk bands. The group is also connected to other collectives/organizations that share some of their ideas (notably Curious George Brigade which has written a number of publications including Anarchy in the Age of Dinosaurs) The group also maintains several websites which promote their ideas. In 2005, they began publishing a half-gloss journal, Rolling Thunder, with the byline "An Anarchist Journal of Dangerous Living".

Convergences

Convergence locations

For six summers, CrimethInc. has hosted a convention, extending an invitation to all who wish to attend. Typically featuring the performances of traveling theatrical troupes, musicians, direct-action and mutual-aid workshops from individual participants, the few-days-long camping trip has attracted coverage in newspaper articles, initiated multiple Reclaim the Streets actions, mobilized large Critical Mass actions, and catalyzed many other activities.

It is typical of these gatherings to demand that all attendees have something to contribute to the momentum: whether it's bringing food or equipment to share, leading a discussion group, or providing materials with which to write to political prisoners. There has also been a pattern of promoting convergences as festivals, reminiscent of barnstorming flying circuses and traveling sideshows. A webpage is maintained promoting the event on the CrimethInc.com domain.

These convergences have been hosted by different groups within the collective each time, typically based on the initiative of local enthusiasts. Every year a different set of policy requests is released from locals in the field, typically encouraging a sober, consensus-based space in which no financial transactions are made. The one firm rule always made clear has been “No police informants.”, a regulation which has been ignored at least twice by the FBI.[19]

Publications

Books

"Ne plus ultra" edition of Days of War, Nights of Love.

Letters series

Zines / papers

Stenciled graffito in Washington D.C. bearing the slogan of CrimethInc.'s 2004 Don't Just Vote campaign. Image courtesy of the Brian MacKenzie Infoshop

Video

Main article: CrimethInc. Guerilla Film Series, Volume One

In March of 2001, two documentaries from Eugene, Oregon's Pickaxe Productions were published by a CrimethInc. cell: Pickaxe and Breaking the Spell.

At the end of 2005 (a year after the release of Recipes for Disaster), CrimethInc. announced the first volume in a Guerrilla Film Series, a DVD including 3 feature-length documentaries and a collection of shorts. A few of CrimethInc.'s "thinktank" experiments had been documented on film by the "folk-scientists" themselves, and copies of these lived in relative obscurity until included in the series. CrimethInc. Guerilla Film Series, Volume One included Pickaxe, Breaking the Spell, The Miami Model, 2 subMedia Shorts and 3 Thinktank Documentaries.

Music

CrimethInc. has released LPs, CDs, and 7"s from a number of bands, including Aluminum Noise,[6] Blacken the Skies, Catharsis,[6] Countdown to Putsch, Face Down in Shit, Gehenna,[6] Newborn, Requiem, Sandman, Froseph, The Spectacle, Timebomb,[6] Ümlaut[6] and Zegota.[6] Academic Stacy Thompson has situated CrimethInc. as "exemplary of a more contemporary and nuanced approach" to the possible forms anarcho-punk could take to resist commodification through aesthetic expression.[6] However, Thompson does not consider the aesthetic choices of the collective to be substantially different from the anarcho- and crust-punk bands released by Profane Existence in the mid-to-late 90s.[6]

Notes and references

  1. ^ "After the Fall: Analysis of the Events of September 11th 2001". Crimethinc.com. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
  2. ^ Gordon, Uri (27–28 May 2005). "Liberation Now: Present-tense Dimensions of Contemporary Anarchism". Thinking the Present : The Beginnings and Ends of Political Theory. University of California, Berkeley. {{cite conference}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |booktitle= ignored (|book-title= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: date format (link)
  3. ^ Thompson, Stacy (2004). "Crass Commodities". Popular Music & Society (Oct 2004): 307–322. Retrieved 2007-07-08. CrimethInc.: Human suffering, reduced to a commodity, now available for your leisure-time listening pleasure. (advertisement for the anarcho-punk collective, "CrimethInc.") {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  4. ^ Ludwig, Mike (2007-07-30). "Melee breaks out uptown at end of anarchist confab". The Athens News. Retrieved 2007-08-01. There is no central location or headquarters for CrimethInc., and no one is quite sure when and where the network originated, though some speculate it has been around since the late 1980s. According to some participants, the ambiguous and decentralized nature of the organization enhances the romantic appeal of its existence and propaganda, which is popular among youth in the punk, anarchist and dropout cultures.
  5. ^ a b c d e f "Frequently Asked Questions". Crimethinc.com. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thompson, Stacy. Punk Productions: Unfinished Business. Albany: SUNY Press. p. 109. ISBN 0791461874.
  7. ^ a b Brandt, Jed. Crimethinc: In Love With Love Itself. Clamor. Retrieved 2008-01-14
  8. ^ Whitehead, Chris (2007-04-13). "How do you say 'dese, dem, dose' in Chinese?; The Mayor's Office of". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2007-07-08. …the stickers come from a group called CrimethInc. It appears to be a bunch of anarchists, although they're the kind of anarchists who'll sell you packs of 'This phone is tapped' stickers for $5 on their Web site. The site talks of 'gateways to new worlds where theft, cheating, warfare, boredom, and so on are simply obsolete.' I guess the phones are part of the 'and so on.'
  9. ^ Childress, Sarah (August 2004). "'Hacktivists' Log On". Newsweek. Retrieved 2007-07-08. Aided by a young radical computer hacker calling himself CrimethInc, a group of politically active 'hacktivists' are plotting to disrupt the convention electronically.
  10. ^ Doy, Gen (2004). Picturing the Self. London: I. B. Tauris. ISBN 1850434131.
  11. ^ "All Traveler Kids Purged From CrimethInc. Membership". CrimethInc.com. Retrieved 2008-01-20.
  12. ^ Summerisle (2005). Times of Hate, Times of Joy, Lost Highway, Volume 1. ISBN 9781411665064.
  13. ^ About CWC: Index Crimethinc.com. Retrieved 2008-01-10
  14. ^ a b Treesong (2004). Revolution of One. ISBN 9781411614055.
  15. ^ a b W., Rethinking Crimethinc., Workers Solidarity Movement, 2006-09-12.
  16. ^ "Let Me Light My Cigarette on Your Burning Blockade:Crimepensée Eyewitness Account of the Anti-G8 Demonstrations and Anarchy in the Alps". Reading library. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
  17. ^ D., Brian. "How I Spent My Permanent Vacation". Retrieved 2008-01-13.
  18. ^ "CrimethInc. Shareholder Report". Reading library. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
  19. ^ "Confidential Source "Anna"-issued affidavit" (.pdf). United States District Court Eastern District of California. Retrieved 2007-10-31.
"Police Not Welcome" CrimethInc. community watch sticker.

CrimethInc. sites

Criticism & considerations

Template:CrimethInc.

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